Dear Editor: In a letter published on May 16, Jagjit Singh urged local Muslim groups to clarify the religious status of Boko Haram, the Nigerian kidnappers who made the news by outraging nearly everyone. To put this request in perspective, one might note that nobody is asking local Christians to clarify the status of the New York City pastor, James David Manning, whose church recently displayed a sign saying that “Jesus would stone homos,” and who was unapologetic after the predictable public reaction.

The problem is the double standard — our crazies are nut cases that everyone should ignore (or merely ridicule) while their crazies have to be explicitly disowned.

In order to not be outdone due to what was presumably a momentary lapse on the part of Mr. Singh, the very next day Arthur Cohn’s diatribe first confused the failure to prevent an attack on a diplomatic post with an “ineffective foreign policy.” Cohn goes on to blame President Barack Obama regarding multinational negotiations with Iran, claiming that Iran is being allowed to develop nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, according to a BBC report on April 17, Iran has diluted half of its stockpile of higher-grade enriched uranium, just as the agreement required.

Bill Zaumen,

Palo Alto

Genocidal cause

Dear Editor: This past weekend, a unique “peace run” initiated by Australian extreme athlete Pat Farmer was stymied by the Palestinian Authority when it objected to the presence of Jewish runners. Farmer’s intention was to promote coexistence between Jews and Arabs in Judea and Samaria, but that was not to be, thanks to the insistence that Jews not be allowed to participate.

The Palestinian Authority’s no-Jews policy is consistent with the rabid anti-Jewish incitement that it has fed to the world and especially its children, without interruption. The policy is also consistent with its refusal to allow any Jew to live in the future state, which it demands. In this context, the recent unification of the Palestinian Authority with the terrorist Hamas group is logical.

Given a recent poll indicating that about 95 percent of Arab Palestinians are anti-Semitic, they clearly resemble the Nazis in this regard. Anyone who continues to support their genocidal cause can no longer avoid being tarred with the same brush, and it has a putrid smell.